Attachment for load-handling machinery



Aug. 1, 1967 c. A. SCAPEROTTO 3,333717 ATTACHMENT FOR LOAD-HANDLINGMACHINERY Filed Dec. 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fig. 1.

I'NVENTORZ CHARLES AL-SCAPEROTTO ATTY5.

1, 1957' c. A. SCAPEROTTO 3,333,717

ATTACHMENT FOR LOAD-HANDLING MACHINERY Filed Dec. 15, 1965 2 SheetsSheet2 mvgwron: CHAR LES A. SCAPEROTTO BY MW AT YS- United States Patent3,333,717 ATTACHMENT FOR LOAD-HANDLING MACHINERY Charles A. Scaperotto,931 Kenmore Road, Philadelphia, Pa. 19151 Filed Dec. 15, 1965, Ser. No.514,084 3 Claims. (Cl. 214-147) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A crane boomfor attachment to the end of the bucket arm of a backhoe. The crane boomhas a pair of gripping jaws at its outer end which can be moved towardor away from one another to grab or release an article and are connectedby means of linkage mechanism to the bucket cylinder so that actuationof the bucket cylinder will cause movement of the jaws.

The present invention relate to new and useful improvements inattachments for load-handling machines such as backhoes and moreparticularly to new and useful improvements in a boom structure whichmay be attached to a load-handling machine such as a backhoe to increasethe utility and versatility of the machine.

At the present time, backhoes are used extensively for excavation inconstruction work, In many instances while the excavating is being done,the site is being prepared for later construction by the delivery ofmaterial and supplies and performing certain of the building operations.When this occurs, the contractor normally has to transport a small craneor hoist to the building site to help with the unloading of material andsupplies and the initial construction work even though he might have oneor more backhoes or similar equipment available at the site.

With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present invention isto provide a novel attachment for load-handling machinery such asbackhoes which may be readily and easily attached to the machine topermit the performance of a variety of lifting and hoisting functrons.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel boomstructure which may be secured to a backhoe in place of the usualbucket, may be easily controlled by the operator of the machine andwhich may be used to grab, lift and move heavy loads.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novelboom which may be used in conjunction with a backhoe or similar machineand which is of relatively simple construction and may be manufacturedeasily and cheaply.

These and other objects of the present invention and the variousfeatures and details of the operation and construction thereof arehereinafter more fully set forth and described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional backhoe prior to attachmentof the boom structure of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a boom made in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of a backhoe with the boom ofthe present invention secured thereto and utilized to lift a piece ofconstruction material;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view similar to FIG. 3 showingthe boom of the present invention used in conjunction with a backhoe formoving and placing a piece of construction material;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view showingthe construction of the outer end of ICC one form of boom made inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 66, FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 7-7, FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken on line 8-8,FIG. 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawings and FIG. 1, there is shown aconventional backhoe comprising a tractor 10 having a boom 11 mountedthereon in such a manner that the operator may effect pivotal movementof the boom 11 about both horizonal and vertical axes. A bucket arm 12is mounted at the outer end of the boom 11 for pivotal movement about ahorizontal axis. The bucket 13, in turn, is mounted at the outer end ofthe bucket arm 12 for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis. Pivotalmovement of the boom 11, bucket arm 12 and bucket 13 about theirhorizontal axes is accomplished by a hydraulic boom cylinder 14, ahydraulic bucket arm cylinder 15 and a hydraulic bucket cylinder 16,respectively, all of which may be controlled by the operator'fromconventional controls on the tractor 10.

In accordance with the present invention, a crane boom 17, as shown inFIG. 2, is provided which may be secured to the outer end of the bucketarm 12 in place of the bucket. The crane boom 17 may have a box framestructure comprising longitudinal side panels 18, 18, a top panel 19 anda bottom panel 20. Extending between the inner ends of the side panels18 is a tube 21 which provides a bushing for a pivot pin 22 by means ofwhich the crane boom 17 is pivotally secured to the outer end of thebucket arm 12 as shown in FIG. 4. A pair of bucket cylinder links 23, 23extending from the end of the piston rod of the bucket cylinder 16 arepivotally secured as shown in FIG. 8 to opposite ends of an actuatingpin 24 which extends transversely between the opposite side panels 18,18 of the crane boom 17. The ends of the actuating pin 24 projectoutwardly beyond the side panels 18, 18 through substantiallylongitudinal slots 25, 25 formed in the side panels 18, 18. Thisprovides, in effect, a lost motion linkage between the bucket cylinderand the crane boom. During normal operation, as the piston of the bucketcylinder 16 is retracted, the actuating pin 24 will be pulled toward theends of the slots 25, 25 adjacent the inner end of the crane boom 17 andupon engagement of the actuating pin 24 with the ends of the slots 25,25, the crane boom will be pivoted upwardly about its pivot pin 22. Ifdesired, a lifting hook 26 may be secured to the bottom panel of thecrane boom 17 to permit the lifting and moving of bulk loads of materialby engaging cables or chains surrounding the load with the book 26.

An important feature of the present invention is the provision of novelgripping jaws at the outer end of the crane boom which may be caused toclose about an article being lifted or moved and which are controlled bythe operation of the bucket cylinder 16. This jaw structure includes astationary and a movable jaw, with the movable jaw being interconnectedby operating mechanism as more fully described hereinafter to theactuating pin 24 so that the initial retraction of the bucket cylinder16 will cause the movable jaw to move inwardly toward the stationary jawto securely grip the article to be moved. Thereafter, further retractionof the piston of the bucket cylinder 15 will cause the desired movementof the crane boom 17. Conversely, if an article has been gripped andlifted by the jaw structure at the outer end of the crane boom, the jawsmay be caused to release the article by advancing the piston of thebucket cylinder 16.

The jaw structure at the end of the crane boom 17, as illustrated inFIGS. 5, 6 and 7 of the drawings, includes a pair of flanged side plates27, 27 welded or otherwise secured to the ends of the top and bottompanels 19 and 20 as indicated at 28. A base plate 29 having a centralopening 30 therein is riveted or otherwise secured to the flanges of theside plates 27, 27 with the base plate being spaced from the flanges ofthe side plates by a plurality of spacer lugs 31 as shown in FIG. 7. Thestationary jaw 33 extends transversely of the base plate 29 and isbolted or otherwise secured directly to the base plate as indicated at34. If desired, a series of bolt holes 37 may be provided in the baseplate 29 to permit longitudinal adjustment of the stationary jaw 33,permitting the jaw structure to grip a wide variety of sizes ofmaterial. The movable jaw element 37 is bolted or otherwise secured tothe base of a U-shaped supporting yoke 38 which is slidably mountedbetween the base plate 29 and the flanges of the side plates 27. Theyoke 38 includes a pair of spaced arallel side arm portions 39, 39 whichhave a series of uniformly spaced teeth 40 in the upper surface thereofforming a rack extending the full length thereof. The outer side edgesof each of the arms 39 are beveled as shown in FIG. 6 and are receivedwithin a series of concavely tapered guide rollers 41 which arerotatably mounted as indicated at 42 between the upper surface of thebase plate 30 and the lower surface of the flanges of the side plates27. These rollers 41 support the yoke 38 and permit free longitudinalmovement of the yoke 38 and the movable jaw 37 relative to the baseplate 30 and the stationary jaw 33.

Longitudinal movement of the yoke 38 and movable jaw 37 is effected by apair of pinions 43, 43 keyed or otherwise fixed to a sleeve 44 rotatablymounted on a pinion shaft 44a which extends between the side plates 27,27 The pinions are positioned in engagement with the teeth 40 on thearms of the yoke 38 and carry between them a chain sheave 45 about whicha conventional link chain 46 passes. The link chain 46 has one endthereof connected to a tension spring 47 carried by the frame of thecrane boom 17 and the other end thereof secured to a connecting rod 48.The connecting rod 48, in turn, is secured to the actuating pin 24, asshown in FIG. 8.

With this construction, as the actuating pin 24 is moved by means of thebucket cylinder toward the inner end of the crane boom 17, the linkchain 46 causes rotation of the chain sheave 45 and pinions 43, 43 inthe clockwise direction relative to FIG. 5. This in turn moves the yoke38 and the movable jaw 37 to the left relative to FIG. 5, toward thestationary jaw 33. Upon release of any pressure on the actuating pin dueto the weight of the crane boom and upon outward movement of the pistonrod of the bucket cylinder 16, the tension spring 47 will pull the linkchain 46 around the chain sheave 45 thereby causing counterclockwiserotation of the chain sheave and pinions moving the movable jaw 37 tothe right relative to FIG. away from the stationary jaw and releasingthe article supported by the jaw. If desired, a safety cable 49 may bepositioned centrally of the tension spring 47 to prevent the chain frombecoming disengaged from the chain sheave should the tension springbreak or otherwise become distorted.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate one of many possible uses of this invention. Inthe application of this invention as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a backhoeincluding a crane boom 17 is being used to lift shoring boards 50 from astack of boards and stand the shoring boards in a vertical positionwithin a trench which has previously been dug by the backhoe.

In performing this operation, the operator of the backhoe will move thebackhoe to a position adjacent the stack of shoring boards and lower thejaw structure of the crane boom 17 to a position in engagement with theuppermost board of the stack of shoring boards. The operator will thenadvance the piston of the bucket cylinder 16, causing the jaws to openwith the movable jaw on one side of the shoring board and the stationaryjaw at the opposite side of the shoring board. The operator willthereafter retract the piston of the bucket cylinder 16 causing themovable jaw to move toward the stationary jaw until the shoring board issecurely gripped.

Thereafter, further retraction of the bucket cylinder will pivot thecrane boom 17 in the counterclockwise direction relative to FIG. 3.Simultaneously with this, the crane operator will also pivot the bucketarm 12 upwardly by retracting the piston of the bucket arm cylinderuntil the shoring board is in the desired vertical elevated position.

The operator will then transport the shoring board to the desiredposition and by the proper manipulation of the controls of the backhoe,lower the shoring board into the trench as shown in broken lines in FIG.4. After the shoring board is in the desired position, the operator willadvance the piston of the bucket cylinder so that the weight of theshoring board is supported by the trench permitting the tension spring47 to move the movable jaw out of engagement with the shoring board.This procedure may then be repeated to place subsequent shoring boardsinto the trench.

From the foregoing it will be observed that the present inventionprovides a novel attachment for load-handling machines such as backhoeswhich substantially increases the utility and versatility of the machineand permits the machine to perform a variety of lifting and hoistingfunctions.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described herein, it is not intended to limit theinvention to such a disclosure and changes and modifications may beincorporated and embodied therein within the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. A crane boom for pivotal attachment to an existing boom having aselectively controlled operating member thereon; said crane boomcomprising a boom arm, means at the inner end of said arm to pivotallymount said arm to the outer end of said existing boom, a pair of jawmembers carried by the outer end of said arm, at least one of said jawmembers mounted for relative movement toward and away from the other jawmember, a pin slidably mounted for limited movement substantiallylongitudinally of said arm, said operating member being connected tosaid pin, and a link having one end thereof connected to said pin andthe other end thereof interconnected with said one jaw member to causemovement of said one jaw member relative to said other jaw member uponmovement of said operating members.

2. A crane boom in accordance with claim 1 including a rotatable memberinterconnected with said jaw to cause sliding movement of said jaw uponrotation of said rotatable member, and means connecting said other endof said link to said rotatable member to cause rotation of saidrotatable member.

3. A crane boom in accordance with claim 2 wherein spring means areconnected to said rotatable member to normally urge said rotatablemember to rotate in a direction to cause said one jaw to move away fromsaid other aw.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,814,396 11/1957 Neale 21432,831,589 4/ 1958 Way 214-147 3,221,908 12/1965 Larson 214147 3,273,7299/1966 Holopainen 214-138 3,275,172 9/1966 Smith 214138 3,278,058 10/1966 Symmank 2l4147 HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner.

1. A CRANE BOOM FOR PIVOTAL ATTACHMENT TO AN EXISTING BOOM HAVING ASELECTIVELY CONTROLLED OPERATING MEMBER THEREON; SAID CRANE BOOMCOMPRISING A BOOM ARM, MEANS AT THE INNER OUTER END OF SAID EXISTINGBOOM, A PAIR OF JAW ARM TO THE OUTER END OF SAID EXISTING BOOM, A PAIROF JAW MEMBERS CARRIED BY THE OUTER END OF SAID ARM, AT LEAST ONE OFSAID JAW MEMBERS MOUNTED FOR RELATIVE MOVEMENT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THEOTHER JAW MEMBER, A PIN SLIDABLY MOUNTED FOR LIMITED MOVEMENTSUBSTANTIALLY LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID ARM, SAID OPERATING MEMBER BEINGCONNECTED TO SAID PIN, AND A LINK HAVING ONE END THEREOF CONNECTED TOSAID PIN AND THE OTHER END THEREOF INTERCONNECTED WITH SAID ONE JAWMEMBER TO CAUSE MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE JAW MEMBER RELATIVE TO SAID OTHERJAW MEMBER UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID OPERATING MEMBERS.